When Airbenders Eavesdrop
by LaLaLove121
Summary: It all started with a certain airbender eavesdropping on a personal conversation between Toph and Katara... Different Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes tweaked to a Taang lover's liking and weaved together to form an epic love story. TAANG.
1. The Tale of Toph and Katara

Hey there. This is my first Fanfic. I don't aspire to be a writer, I just do this for fun, so I really don't want any 'You SUCK at writing!!!!' in the reviews and such because I already KNOW that..hahaha..well, I'm not a horrible writer.... but w/e you decide for yourself, But seriously, no flames. They are not appreciated. Constructive criticism is fine, be my guest. I guess it's always good to get better at something. However, the only reason I really do this is because I LOVE Taang and all of the stories on here and all these new Ideas were popping into my head, so I decided to try my hand at writing one. So here you go. Enjoy, I guess.

BTW, yadda, yadda, yaddaI don't own anything Avatar. This story is going to be a continuation on a bunch of the episodes and how I would've made them weaved together into a Taangy love story. I don't own ANY of the episodes/episode ideas,. Hopefully the story won't turn out too terrible! 

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**Continuation of Tales of Ba Sing Se: The tale of Toph and Katara**

Katara and Toph chuckled and walked away after they had successfully washed the pompous "poodle monkey" brats down the river. After a couple minutes of walking in silence, Katara heard some sniffling. Bewildered, she turned to Toph who, sure enough, had tears streaming down her face. Just outside of their home, Katara placed her hands on Toph's shoulders and gently turned the earthbender to face her.

"Toph, don't you worry about them. They don't know what they're talking about--"

"I know I'm not pretty, Katara. You don't have to try and make me feel better about it. One of the good things about being blind is I don't have to worry about my appearances or impressing anybody. I know who I am," Toph interrupted, her freshly applied make-up now streaming down her tear-stained face.

"And that's one of the things that I really admire about you, Toph. You're so strong and you don't care about what anybody thinks." Katara explained gently, her motherly instincts kicking in. "But, Toph, you had to know what I was going to say. You know, you really are pretty."

"Yeah right, I've heard from everyone about how beautiful you are. I don't need your sympathy and lies because you feel bad for me—"

"Toph, no, really. I am being completely honest," Katara pleaded using the hem of her sleeve to wipe the smeared make-up and tears from the small earthbender's face, "You have this cute little button nose, and flawless pale white skin, really soft jet-black hair, and your eyes—they are gorgeous. Like very pale emeralds."

Toph smirked through her tears, "That's great and all, Sweetness, but I don't know what any of that is," Toph gestured to her unseeing eyes, smiling weakly at her friend. Katara rolled her eyes at her own slip-up and smiled back.

"Right," Katara chuckled, "I forget sometimes. You just seem so..capable with your 'seeing with your feet' thing."

"I know," sighed Toph, her tears finally coming to an end as she leaned against the wall of their home and slid into sitting criss-cross applesauce, "And for the most part, it's awesome..Like, I'm the greatest earthbender in the world. If I weren't blind, then I wouldn't be. But, there are some things that I really wish I could see for."

"Like what?" asked Katara, joining Toph on the ground.

"Like…..like, boys.." Toph mumbled, blushing at her own sudden openness. Katara smiled widely. She had been waiting for the time that Toph would start liking boys and was excited to finally have a girl to talk to about that stuff.

"What about boys?" Katara encouraged.

"Well….I guess I kinda..well, isn't seeing them kind of important? Like, you always talk about boys being good-looking. What if boys don't like me because I won't be able to see them? What if I decide I like a really weird looking boy and everyone judges me for choosing someone like that? And what about kissing? How am I ever going to kiss a boy if I can't see where his lips are?? And—"

"Toph, Toph, calm down. Haha, you're worrying way too much," Katara chuckled, taking Toph's hands reassuringly, her piercing cerulean eyes boring into her friends pale, blind emeralds . "You're making it into such a big deal and it's really not."

"But--"

"Toph trust me. When a boy cares about you and he makes it known to you, I'd be very surprised if he didn't make the first move. Most boys like too. It makes them feel good about themselves to have worked up the courage. It boosts their ego."

"Yeah, I guess so… but, what about the kissing? How do you kiss?" Toph went on, her questions now flying out of her mouth with ease and curious enthusiasm. Katara giggled.

"Well..um, it's.. Kindof..well, Toph, to be honest its like… hm.. I can't really explain it. It's really something you just do. You'll know how when the opportunity presents itself, trust me. "

The two benders continued to talk, friendlier than they had ever before as they sat against the wall of their home, watching the sun set behind the great walls of Ba Sing Se. Little did they know, that a certain airbender had heard their entire conversation...

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TO BE CONTINUED......

Don't get too anxious waiting for chapter numba twooo...hahaha

review if you want to, but READ authors note at the top first!!!!!

Thanks :)

love, Mallory


	2. Later That Evening

Hey guys, so here's chapter 2. I guess I'll try and update every weekend. But just so you guys know, I have final exams coming up next week so chances are I probably won't update for two weeks just this time. But who knows, I could somehow write the third chapter tonight and get ahead..but thats very unlikely. Anywho, I just wanted to clarify that Aang and Toph will, of course, get older in this story. Probably into their late teens, maybe even early twenties which is why this story is rated M. But yes, right now they are 12 (i just had to get the puppy love in there, its the best =)). Just so you guys know, the story will definately go beyond where the finale ended. The episodes that I am re-writing my way are kind of just guides to make what I want to happen between Toph and Aang happen. Okay that's all I have to say for now. Enjoy chapter 2 :)

REMEMBER, blah blah blah i don't own anything concerning Avatar: The Last Airbender yadda yadda yadda don't sue me, kay? thanks.

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**Tales of Ba Sing Se: Later That Evening**

"Uh, Aang, what are you doing?" The airbender snapped out of his trance. He had been so absorbed with Toph and Katara's conversation that he hadn't even noticed that Sokka had entered the room and was now standing over him wearing a suspicious, yet amused expression.

"I —uh—sleeping." The airbender stammered, propping himself up on his elbows. His claim was half true, he had been sitting against the wall underneath the open window working on some new Appa posters when he had started to doze off. However, he quickly came to his senses when he heard voices outside the window. Instinctively, he jumped to his feet, grabbed his staff and was reaching for the door handle when he realized the voices belonged to Toph and Katara..and one of them was crying. He hesitated, his arrow-clad hand inches from the door, listening intently. He waited until he heard something about Toph not being pretty before he backed away and decided that maybe this was one of those times that the twelve year old male avatar should _not_ interfere. '_But maybe I should just listen to make sure everything is ok...' _he thought to himself.

And so he eavesdropped…sitting underneath the open window and up against the wall on the other side of which Katara and Toph conversed, utterly enthralled with their conversation. Before Toph had joined their group, everything was always so simple: He loved Katara. Period.

But then Toph came into the picture and mixed everything up. Everything that had once been so clear-cut in the airbender's head was now a confusing, jumbled mess of pubescent hormones. The little earthbender absolutely _fascinated _Aang. There were so many things about her that intrigued him. And he had _such_ an intense desire to please her whenever possible during their lessons. Even though it definitely took some getting used to, and contrary to what Katara thought, Aang _liked_ Toph's teaching methods. They motivated him and only made his will and determination to please her (and, of course to become a better earthbender) stronger. He couldn't even begin to tell of the shame she cast upon him on the day of their first earthbending lesson when he steered clear of that boulder (even though he had a legitimate reason to, and he knew it). He was just fascinated at the way her insults cut through him like a knife..he couldn't believe the raw strength and deafening impact her words had on him…all that from the tiniest little girl…. One thing's for sure, he definitely did not see it coming. He grew to love her challenges and blunt direction; a nice change of pace from Katara's same-old, simple, "encouraging" lessons which were getting old.

It seemed as though he already knew everything there was to know about Katara. She was beautiful, kind, motherly, an excellent waterbender….and….? That's as far as he ever got when describing his puppy love crush on her. But with Toph, he felt that there was always something new to learn about her, something to unearth, so to speak, in her tomboyish persona. And he knew there was so much more to Toph that she would never let anyone see because she felt she had her "tough image to protect". But Aang could see right through that. And this conversation _proved _his suspicions. There _is_ more to Toph Bei Fong that meets the eye. And he wanted to know what.

He was currently hoping that Toph was preoccupied enough that she would not "see" him through the wall, really only sitting a few feet away from her when Sokka showed up.

"Sleeping, huh?" Sokka questioned, his lips pursed, one of his eyebrows raised high.

"Yep, yeah just dozed off..heheh.." Aang muttered, smiling an obviously guilty smile that most people would've picked up on..that is, most people except for Sokka.

"You're lying, Twinkletoes, I can feel it," smiled Toph who had just come in followed by Katara who was sliding the front door shut. Aang shot up. If they ever found out that he had been eavesdropping….especially Toph, Avatar or not, he would surely be the unluckiest boy on Earth. His eyes flickered nervously from one powerful bending master to the other. They didn't seem to suspect him of anything..so he decided to just let it go and forget about it for the time being.

Aang finally allowed his eyes to settle upon the two girls for the first time since they had entered the room. They both looked..beautiful. Well of course Katara was _always_ beautiful..the make-up she wore accentuated her delicate features perfectly making her appear even more drop-dead gorgeous than usual. But, surprisingly, it wasn't Katara that made his jaw, literally, drop. His eyes moved to Toph. He couldn't believe it. If she hadn't called him Twinkletoes upon entering the room, he would never have guessed that that stunning girl next to Katara was Toph. Most of her make-up had been washed away by her tears, but some of her eye make-up still remained, creating a delicate, smoky effect, an absolutely unreal contrast against her pale, sea foam eyes. _'But she doesn't even need any of that make-up,' _he thought._ 'Toph __really __is ..…pretty…'_

"W-Wow..you guys look—amazing--" Aang stammered, blushing deeply as he rose to his feet unsteadily.

"Aang, quit drooling and answer a question for me," said Sokka, lifting the now tomato-red airbender's jaw shut. "How are we going to hang up all these new Appa posters with Judi babysitting us 24/7?" Sokka gestured to the scattered posters littering the floor. Aang shook his head, composing himself.

"I have a plan, don't worry. I think the best use of our time is to look in the lower ring where the black market is. Plus you saw how uncomfortable Judi was when she was giving us a tour there on our first day. I think that two of us should distract her here while the other one of us and I sneak out and go to the lower ring to hang Appa posters and question people."

"I call going to the lower ring!" Toph's hand shot into the air. The other three turned to her. "What?" she questioned, "After this boring girly day I need something fun and exciting to do tomorrow." Katara scowled at her and then turned to Aang.

"I don't know…" she said uneasily, "the lower ring looked really dangerous, Aang. And if people down there found out you were the avatar it could really turn out bad—"

"Don't worry , Katara, I was going to wear a disguise. "

"Oh, ok."

They sat there in silence for a few seconds before Toph decided to break it, "Sooo….when's dinner gonna be here? I'm starving."

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uh oh what's gonna happen with Toph and Aang alone together in the lower ring?!??

I promise to get a decent chapter three up as soon as i possibly can.

Thanks :)))

love, Mallory


	3. The Lower Ring

ok here's chapter 3!!! sorry i took so long, my exams are FINALLY over and SUMMER IS HERE! I also think this is my best chapter yet. Tell me if you agree. enjoy :)

WAIT before you read, i almost forgot two things:

1. the stupid friggin disclaimer : REMEMBER, blah blah blah i don't own anything concerning Avatar: The Last Airbender yadda yadda yadda don't sue me, kay? thanks.

and 2. I also just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the lovely reviews so far! It's nice to know that im fooling some people into thinking that im a decent writer! hahaha

....

...ok....

NOW enjoy the next chapter :)

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**The Lower Ring**

The plan was in action: Katara and Sokka had "all of the sudden come down with terrible cases of Penta Pox", Judi was immediately summoned, and she was now in the midst of frantically calling in healers from all over Ba Sing Se to "heal the avatar's friends!" Her reaction to the call?—"Penta Pox! Oh yes, I think I've heard of that before! What an awful epidemic a few weeks ago in Omashu..." Her paranoia had kept her preoccupied enough to allow Toph and Aang to slip out the back door unnoticed in their disguises.

"I feel SO stupid. I hate dresses. Why did I let you talk me into this?!?", Toph mused bitterly. Aang smirked. He had insisted that if he had to wear a disguise so as not to be recognized on their trip to the lower ring, then so did she. That was the deal "if she wanted to come along." She had finally agreed, her desire to get out of the house winning her over in the end. Still, she put up a fight. She argued that the only other clothes she had were her "fancy" clothes from home that she had been forced to wear every day before she ran away. She had argued that they were way too expensive-looking, and they would "stick out like a ripe appleberry in a cabbage cart" in the lower ring, but Aang wasn't buying it, and in the end, she walked out of the house in the floor lenth green dress she had once worn under her "fancy" white skirt and a simple black cloak borrowed from Katara's belongings. The airbender had also insisted that her hair be down with the excuse that people would remember her trademark bun and headband. Aang, on the other hand, had gotten away with a simple pale green number and his straw peasant hat*, his new-and-improved Appa posters in hand.

"You KNOW how much I hate dresses, Twinkletoes.", She huffed, crossing her short, strong arms.

Aang turned his head and smiled his normal goofy smile at her. Most girls would say just the opposite. Toph, was a different story completely.

"Toph, I think you look..nice." he muttered and looked away, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, so as not to make things weird between them. The earthbender responded with a swift punch to his bicep, knocking him off step.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Twinkles.", she grumbled. Aang rubbed his shoulder and grinned widely at her. He could've sworn he saw the faintest pink grace her pale complexion for a few seconds. "Sooo …where are we going to exactly?"

"Well, I figured we can start at the far side of the Lower Ring and then work our way across and just ask around about the black market as we go. Sound good?"

"Yep. Sure. Fine by me." The two kids walked in silence for a few minutes, neither really knowing what to say.

'_Geez, I can't think of __anything__ to say or ask this girl…_' , thought Aang. '_I never get tongue tied around __anyone__.. this is so weird. Hm.. I can ask..no, no, she'd punch me for that..but then again, she'll probably find a reason to punch me anyways…GAH! What can I say??? Howabout..hm..well I've asked that before, but that's all I got._'

"Hey, Toph, uh, why did you hate living at home with your parents so much?", Aang blurted out.

Toph sighed, "We've been through this a zillion times, Twinkles..They smothered me non-stop and treated me like I was helpless. They didn't understand me or even try to understand or get to know the real _me_. It was getting old." Her head fell. Aang looked at his own feet, lost in thought. And by 'lost in thought' I mean, trying desperately to think of another question to ask her to keep the conversation moving.

He tilted his head to look at her, "How did they smother you?"

She sighed again. "Well, they made me learn all this high-society crap, and then I barely had any freedom. I didn't have any friends before you, and Sokka, and Katara. And then shortly before you guys showed up at Earth Rumble VI, they were starting to line up..suitors..for me! Can you believe that?? SUITORS. I'm TWELVE years old!", she shuddered, closing her sightless eyes tight at the thought. Aang's eyes widened, his heartbeat sped up.

"Wow..yeah, twelve.." He looked away quickly, praying to the spirits that she didn't feel his heartbeat pick-up. What was he thinking?! Why was just talking to Toph making him all of the sudden act so….. strange?? It made no sense! He struggled to regain composure. "Did you..like..any of the..um, suitors?" He asked quietly.

"Ugh, no! Aang, I do _NOT_ want to get married! Can you _imagine_ that?? Me.._married_?!?" she gesticulated wildly, Aang cringed in anticipation of being punched again. "I mean," she paused, her tiny arms and head falling once more, "I haven't even..uh, done any, um..normal girl stuff yet.", she muttered. Aang snapped to attention. He recognized her tone immediately: She was dancing around being vulnerable, as usual. Dancing around admitting to him what she had admitted to Katara last night. He egged her on and tried to ignore his now racing heart.

"What do you mean by 'normal girl stuff'?", he pried innocently. At this, Toph's own heartbeat sped up. She did not like the direction in which this conversation was taking a turn. At this rate, she would end up feeling all mushy and vulnerable around Aang within the next few minutes.. And she was NOT about to show any weakness around her pupil… '_No matter how cute he is…well, at least he sounds cute..wait..what?! NO. I DO NOT like Aang! No, Toph, stop this right now! You are Toph Bei Fong: Greatest Earthbender in the World and you show NO WEAKNESS. ESPECIALLY for stupid, sissy boys like Aang who like floozies like Sugar Queen.' _It had taken a lot of courage for her to admit that she'd never been kissed to Katara. There was NO WAY she was about to admit that to Aang. She reacted to his question defensively.

"What do you mean by 'what do I mean'?!?!? I said 'girl stuff' and that's what I meant, Airhead, so just drop it! Okay?" She yelled and sent another fist flying towards him, but before it could make contact and bruise his arm further, he caught it, catching the blind earthbender off guard, and using it to drag her into a deserted alley they had been walking past. He shoved her up against the wall of the alley and she struggled against him, but he had her pinned.

"Why do you always _DO_ that?!?!" He yelled furiously in her face, "_EVERYTIME_ someone tries to get to know you and try to find out what you're all about, you get all defensive and yell at them and punch them! You said that your parents never tried to get the know 'the real you' and here I am _wanting_ to get to know you, Toph, and the second you feel even the _tiniest _bit vulnerable you get all defensive and yell at me and hit me!" At the sudden outburst, Toph's face softened from rage to…fear? Her sightless, sea foam eyes filled to the brim with tears and she bowed her head in an effort to still hide her emotions as Aang continued to yell. "You put in _so_ much effort trying to act so tough all the time, well you know what?? I _know_ it's an act, Toph, I know you are a _real_ person who feels _real_ emotions like everyone else. I know you just act tough all the time to hide your lack of self-confidence. So why don't you just _STOP_ being so _INSECURE_ and _let_ people get to know you _for once_!"

Aang's chest heaved and adrenaline raced through his veins after exploding at Toph. His face softened as he realized the extent of the effects of his temporary loss of self-control and looked at her as she lifted her head to 'look' him in the eye. He braced himself for abuse, but none came. Tears were streaming down her porcelain face, covering it with red splotchy paches. Her face showed no anger, no fury, no desire to retaliate. Just defeat. He had stripped her bare, seen right through her. He backed away from the wall, releasing her, regretting what he had just done immediately. She fell to her hands and knees and let out a sob. Aang had never seen her like this, it made him…scared..to see his friend so vulnerable.. He rested a hand on her back as she sobbed uncontrollably and within the minute had gathered the hurt earthbender into a tight, sincere, kneeling hug. Ignoring the stares from passing refugees, Aang shushed her, rubbed her back in circles, and repeatedly whispered how sorry he was that he lost control of himself like that in her ear. He realized how thin she really was as her small frame shook with violently with sobs and her breaths became ragged and labored. Finally, she calmed down enough to begin wiping the tears from her face. '_Spirits, even when her face is all red from crying she is still beautiful…_' Aang thought freely, not bothering to suppress his thoughts at the moment.

"Toph, I am so, so, so sorry. I had no right—"

"No…Aang. You're..right. I want you to get to know me and I—" But before she could say anything else, the area around her face had become very warm and it wasn't until he breathed that she realized that Aang was inches from her face. Instinctively, she backed her head into the wall behind her, but Aang's followed. He was moving closer and closer..his heartbeat sounded like a drum corps in her ear and before she could ask him what in the name of the Spirits he was doing, she felt something hot and soft on her lips. Aang was..kissing her. Something came alive in her chest as she instinctively began to move her own lips in synch with his. Aang's hands found her face and pulled her harder onto his lips his head exploding with passion. Then, something occurred to Toph and all of the wonderful new feelings she was experiencing suddenly disappeared. She earthbended Aang off her and pinned him to the opposite wall, glaring in his face.

"HEY! You _knew_ I hadn't been kissed, didn't you? You were eavesdropping on Katara and I yesterday, weren't you?!? WERE'NT YOU?!?!???" she spat. Aang, froze, he knew it would be useless to try and lie in a situation like this, she had him pinned to a wall for crying out loud. He smiled the goofy, guilty smile she knew so well and within a matter of seconds and without a word, he had airbended himself from her clutches and was sprinting for his life towards their home fighting laughter.

"COME BACK HERE TWINKLETOES AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!!!! OOOH WHEN I CATCH YOU.. YOU, YOU AIRHEAD! YOU ARE DEAD!! DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!? DEAD!!!!!!!"

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haha aw ya gotta love Taang

*Aang's peasant hat: you know, those weirdish cone hat thingys.. apparently they are called "coolie" hats.. i would post a link but for some reason it's acting all funky. just google 'chinese hat' or 'coolie hat' and you'll get a pretty good idea of what i'm talking about.

thanks for reading, stay tuned =)

love, Mallory


	4. The Beach

HELLO!! Gosh it's been a while! I am SO sorry, my faithful readers and fellow Taangers for the severe delay in updating :( I just got tired of Avatar while I was in the midst of writing this chaper. So I decided to take a break and have been working on a Sonny With a Chance fic. So if ya like the show go and check it out :) it's called Sonny Munroe vs. The Read Chad Dylan Cooper. But anywho, now this Taangy chapter is up and, if i do say so myself, it is a pretty darn good (and _long_) chapter! Tell me what you think :)

THANK YOU for all of you who have been so faithful to my stories. It means a lot :)

Disclaimer:.......I DON'T OWN AVATAR.....OKAY???.........gosh...haha

ENJOY :D

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**The Beach**

This was one of the times Toph Bei Fong really wished she could see. The night before the day Sokka had met his sword master, the gaang had been sprawled out underneath the open sky, watching a meteor shower. Amongst the 'ooh's and 'ah's at the supposedly breathtaking display, she had also heard her friends marveling about the stars and how beautiful the night sky was in general. Ever since then, (even though only a few days had elapsed since that night,)Toph had not bothered to put up her usual earth tent. She just slept on the bare ground staring blindly up at where the star scattered heavens were supposed to be. The earthbender wondered about the stars. The way her friends described them-- to Toph, the stars seemed like a mystery, yet, they also seemed like they had all the secrets and answers to the Universe… And boy, did Toph need some answers.

You could say she had been rather—bothered--lately..and confused with herself about many, many things that just didn't make any sense. For instance, she wondered why, all of the sudden, boys had become very important to her. Sokka had always been so much fun to tease, and she had always clung to him throughout their travels, his muscular arms giving her a sense of security whenever she couldn't 'see' very well. So naturally, she had developed a bit of a crush on him. Toph had never really liked a boy before…and she didn't even realize she had begun to like him as more than a friend until it dawned upon her how..empty she felt when Sokka was training with his new sword master a few days ago, leaving her to do nothing all day with Twinkles and Sugarqueen. Of course, she would never admit her crush…no matter _how_ much progress she had made with opening up to her friends since that fateful day in the lower ring. Aang _had_ gotten through to her that day. And speaking of Aang, _he_ had been bothering her too…

The kiss…her first kiss. Aang kissed her….no matter how much she thought about it (which was often), it _still_ made absolutely no sense.. 'Why would _he_ kiss _me_?!' she thought. He liked Katara for sure. Toph could tell by the way his heartbeat raced whenever she spoke his name, and quickened to the speed of light whenever she pecked him on the cheek. He would always try to be with her or next to her during their travels. Oh yes, Aang was arguably in love with Katara, always had been, and probably always would be. Of course, Sokka would never pick-up on it (which was probably a good thing for Aang's sake) and, unlike Sokka, Toph just was exceptionally good at observing things. But anyways, lately, whenever she had been around Aang and Katara, her mood had worsened just from seeing the two interact. And even more strangely, ever since 'the kiss' , Toph had started to notice how Aang's heartbeat had started to jump when she, _herself_, talked to him. So earlier that day, she had decided to experiment a little with the airbender…

It had started out like a normal day, team avatar (with the exception of Sokka who was on one of his meat expeditions) had stripped down to their underclothes and had jumped into the river surrounding their campsite after a long, hot day of travel. Toph didn't miss how Aang's pulse went into overdrive as soon as Katara's new sexy firenation get-up hit the ground. _'I bet he's staring at her in her underwear, the stupid water tribe floozie…'_ thought Toph. Reluctantly (and as inconspicuously as she possibly could,) the earthbender had removed her maroon tunic as well leaving her in her simple, conservative yellow chest binding and brown shorts. She felt Katara's vibrations growing fuzzier as the waterbender waded into the water. Aang's had disappeared completely.. She tapped her foot against the ground, feeling around for him, but got nothing in response. '_hm..where did you go, Twinkles..' _Then out of nowhere, a cry startled her,

"CANNONBALL!!!!!" she gasped in surprise as she heard Aang hit the water with incredible impact, sending a tidal wave to soak everything within a 25 foot radius of the enthusiastic airbender. Everyone laughed and Katara began to wring out her long hair. _'Hmph..she could just use her stupid fancy waterbending to take the water out of her hair..She's probably just doing it by hand to show off for Twinkletoes...' _Toph was getting so sick of watching the two silently become more infatuated with each other that she attempted to stir things up a little, spoil their fun.

"Aang! I know swimming is fun and all, but do you really think you should be exposing yourself like that? Cover-up!" she shouted, sitting upon a large rock by the water's edge, dangling her feet in the water. Aang, who was now floating on his back with momo on top of him looked at her, a content smile playing across his features.

"What? I'm wearing trunks." He responded, letting the back of his head come in contact with water again. Toph thought quickly and responded.

"I know, it's your tattoos I'm worried about! What if someone sees you?!?" She threw her hands into the air, as if to point out the blunt obviousness of the danger he was in by swimming in the firenation..in his underwear. Katara responded.

"There are walls all around us," Katara countered, "It's completely safe." Toph grimaced and looked away. _'Know-it-all…I bet she's enjoying the view..' _.

Toph felt the water slosh against her ankles as she swung them back and forth. Katara had gone into practicing waterbending and Aang had disappeared again. Moments later, he and Momo appeared, soaked from head to toe, at the top of the canyon surrounding the three friends and launched himself high into the air to make an even bigger cannonball this time.

"WOOOHOOOOO YEAH!!!!" the airbender screamed as he hit the water and soaked his friends once again. This time they didn't find it so amusing. "Hey guys! There's a tunnel right here that goes through the canyon and it's filled with water and you can slide down it! It's just like the chutes in Omashu but with water! It's so fun! You have to try--"

Katara sighed, interrupting Aang's overexcited rant "I'm gonna go upstream in the calmer water and practice some waterbending for a while. Kay?" Toph could practically hear Aang's heart sink.

"Uhmm, Katara, do you want me to come? We could practice together—"

"No, that's ok, Aang. I really just want to get in some individual practice. Thanks, though," Katara replied patiently, "Besides, you _know_ it's an earthbending day."

"Uh—Oh…ok…right…..earthbending day.." He watched longingly as his underwear-clad waterbending Sifu trudged down the river. Toph gagged in disgust at the pathetic boy. _'Pathetic but cute,'_ she thought mindlessly. She shook her head in confusion as she replayed that last thought in her head. _'GAH I have to stop doing that! Toph Bei Fong does NOT like ANYTHING cute! Stupid friggen hormones!!' _she continued to mentally curse her budding teenage mind when Aang's voice rang out from somewhere in the middle of the shallow stream.

"Hey, Toph!"

"WHAT?!?" Aang cowered at her outburst.

"Oh, *ahem*," she cleared her throat, composing herself, "Sorry about that, Twinkles."

"It's ok." He replied timidly. "Hey, Toph, why aren't you getting wet and cooling off? I can see you dripping with sweat from here." Toph subconsciously wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and felt that it was, indeed, drenched with perspiration.

"Because, your Twinkly-ness, I cannot see in water." She replied raising her feet from the water so that her soles faced Aang, wiggling her toes.

"Oh, right.. I guess that makes sense." Aang replied. The two were silent for a few moments, staring off in opposite directions in an almost awkward manner, thinking to themselves. A though occurred to Aang, and he blurted out his question before even thinking about what consequences it might have.

"Well, then how do you take baths?" Toph first looked at him like he was insane, but then her expression softened as she pondered his question. Instead of earthbending him to infiniti like she was about to 5 seconds ago, she answered calmly.

"Katara helps me." She said simply. And the tone in her voice indicated that she wanted to discuss the topic no further. Aang detected that and didn't say anything else, but that didn't stop his pubescent mind from conjuring up some not-so-innocent images of Toph bathing…with Katara's assistance. He was enjoying it immensely but quickly cleared his mind of the thoughts and mentally scolded himself for thinking about Toph that way. Instead, he got an idea and started wading towards the water towards the rock upon which his earthbending Sifu sat.

Suddenly Toph felt someone touch her hand. She whipped it back, startled. "Aang what are you doing?!?" she hadn't even felt him come over to her rock because his light footsteps were blurred by the water. She felt the heat radiating off him as he blushed. He didn't answer her. "Helloooooo…" She prodded him.

"Oh—uh.. sorry, you just uh—" he stuttered.

"Spit it out!" Toph was beginning to get annoyed.

He blushed even further. "Sorry you just, y-you called me…Aang…and not Twinkletoes..or something else.." Toph thought for a second..wow..she _did_ call him Aang..

"Oh…right...my mistake, Twinkletoes." She finishes with a sly smile.

"It's just—I…um…"

"What is the matter with you today?? You can't even talk! Would you just say what you want to say already!" she exclaimed, exasperated.

"Sorry, It's just.." he looked at his feet, blushing deeply again. "I..liked it. You..calling me ..Aang."

"Oh.." Toph's voice trailed off. The two stood in awkward silence again for a few seconds until Aang broke it.

"Anyways," he started, "I came over here to, um, ask you if you would go in the water if I was, uh, with you." he looked at his feet again.

"Oh…I don't know…"

"Come on, it'll be fun!" exclaimed Aang, recovering from the awkward situation and becoming more like his original self again. He didn't wait for her to respond. He tugged on her small hand and her feet landed in the water beside his.

Toph didn't like the water. As refreshing as I felt, it made her feel weak and vulnerable as she took baby steps , clutching Aang's hand as though it might fall off if she was not holding it there so tightly. _'Wow…I'm holding his hand..'_ thought Toph. And this time, she didn't bother to suppress the thoughts that came to her mind concerning the strapping, young airbender next to her. …She liked it. She could feel the heat of his body so close to hers radiating off of him. She could hear him breathing and his pulse racing. She could feel his palm sweat beneath her grip.

Aang looked down at the girl next to him. He smiled at the terrified, but curious look playing across her features as she waded deeper into the water, and at the way she held onto him so tightly. She looked..adorable. Aang chuckled inwardly at the thought that Toph "hated" all things cute, and yet, she was so incredibly cute herself.

After about 10 minutes of getting Toph used to being totally blind, the two were in the midst of a splashing fight. Then Aang had an idea.

"Hey, Toph. You wanna go down the slide?!?" A terrified look swept across her face.

"Uh, no, I don't think so, Aang."

"But it's SO f—"

"I said NO." stubborn Toph was back. He knew she was scared.

"Well..what if I went with you?" he tried. The terror on her face subsided. She just stood there, clearly thinking it over thoroughly in her head. Aang took that as a yes. He jogged over to her through the waist deep water and grabbed her hand. Tagging her along. When they got to the rock just before the tunnel, they stopped and climbed upon it readying themselves for the ride.

"Here you'll wanna be in front." He said. He sat down behind her, slid himself entirely up against her small body and wrapped his lean arms tightly around her waist. Toph's adrenaline raced. He was _very_ close. His legs gripped hers tightly. His bare chest pressed up hard against her back. She gulped nervously. She had never been this close to a boy before. _'Wow…he has abs…'_ she thought nervously.

Then he scooted them forward, their bodies gradually sliding of the rock more and more until they disappeared in the fast current down the watery chute.

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Yay! I'm so glad I'm back. I've actually had this chapter written up for a while now...but whatever. I actually get really inspired to write when you guys review so that would be AWESOME! Or even better, inbox me! I don't really know what I want to happen in the second installment of 'The Beach' so if you have any ideas send them my way!

Thanks so much for reading!

TAANG REVOLUTION

Love, Mal


	5. Almost Confessions

Hello my lovely Taang lovers :) Guess who's back? ME! I'm sorry it's been a while... life happens. I've been writing and re-writing this chapter for a few weeks now so I hope it's okay... I really didn't like it at first, but I've made it work! This one's a litttle angsty and it might _seem_ like I'm not being a loyal Taanger, BUT if you read carefully into the dialogue towards the end, hopefully you'll catch my drift and see where I'm going with this!

It's good to be back, and I really hope this chapter meets expectations! Also I would like to thank you all so, SO much for the wonderful reviews! They really are _so_ heartwarming and amazing and rewarding to read, and, on that note, I would especially love to thank TeenTitansGO for the constructive criticism! I am trying to improve my story-telling skils and hopefully did a little bit of a better job with this chapter :) And to I-am-an-Oddity: patience :) I promise the story IS, in fact, rated M for a reason!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters or anything! I wish I _did_ though, because I would have loved to match up Katara with Zuzu and, of course, Aang with Toph! Then everyone would be happy! ..Well, except for Mai... but, let's be honest, who really cares about her anyways! :)

Enjoy!

**The Beach: Almost-Confessions**

"WOOOOHOOOOO YEAAH!"

Aang's shout's of glee echoed throughout the tunnel and rang in Toph's ear as they cascaded down the slippery slide. She leaned back into him, digging her short fingernails into his knees and shut her unseeing eyes to keep out the damp wind and mist that whipped past her face. This had seemed like a great idea a few seconds ago, when Aang had been sitting so close to her before they had descended into the tunnel... his abs flexed against her bare back, his deceptively strong arms locked tight around her tiny waist, his breath hot and moist on her neck..

But despite his still very close (if not closer) proximity now, Toph just felt scared and stupid. She remembered her incident at the Serpent's pass and her stomach flipped nervously as her fear of drowning began to surface. What had she been _thinking_? This was a _horrible_ idea-she was completely and totally blind in the element that she hated most of all..._ 'Stupid!' _Toph mentally cursed herself for letting Aang's innocent sex appeal cloud her judgment, and shrieked as the watery chute took them through an unexpected hairpin turn.

"Haha hold on, Toph!"

She couldn't hold it in any longer- her eyes burned as her lower lids began to fill with tears of terror. How embarrassing. Just as they had started to cascade down her cheeks, she felt the bottom of the slide drop out from under her, and she was airborn for a split second-she could feel the warmth of the sunlight on her eyelids-and then, WHOOSH. Her nose and mouth filled with water as she and Aang were completely submerged. She felt him grasp her wrist firmly and yank her in the direction that she hoped was up (Toph was really in no position to distinguish which direction they were going at the moment). The unpleasant sensation of water in her nasal cavities clogged her head and she began to panic. Then, when she was sure that she was going to drown despite the airbender's firm grip on her, she broke through the surface, flailing and choking and sputtering, tears now openly cascading down her face. Aang hoisted her onto his back piggy-back style and began to swim for the shore.

"Wasn't that AMAZING, Toph?" Aang asked enthusiastically, not having yet realized the extent of the emotional distress his earthbending master was currently experiencing. '...Toph?"

"Y-yes" she croaked. Aang's face knotted up with concern-not exactly the enthusiastic response he was expecting. He thrust his palm behind him, and used waterbending to jet them to shore faster.

When his feet touched sand, he figured they were shallow enough and paused, expecting Toph to dismount, but she didn't catch the hint and instead clung to him with such raw force that Aang was starting to get lightheaded. "Toph, are you alright?" he asked seriously as he continued to trudge out of the water and onto the shore.

"Yes." The same timid response as before.

"We are completely out of the water now, it's okay to get down." Aang hinted kindly, letting go of her legs and reaching to his neck in an attempt to ease her grip. She understood this time, and he felt her wet body leave the back of his and heard the dull 'thud' of her small feet touching down on the sand behind him. Concerned, he immediately turned around and found her sitting cross-legged, head down, and wiping fiercely at her face and eyes. "Toph?" he said her name gently as he eased down in front of her. She kept her head down, averting her sightless eyes so that he would not see how bloodshot they most likely were. Her nose tweaked to the side a little as she sniffled, and her angular, jet-black bangs dripped water onto the sand in front of her.

Toph closed her eyes and felt his body heat shortly before Aang's fingers landed tenderly on her face. His touch was so gentle, it was heartbreaking-her nose and sinuses filled with the crying sensation again, and she held her breath to suppress more tears from surfacing. His pinkies slid under her jaw, lifting her face, moving it to his eye level. Her eyes remained directed downwards as he pushed her bangs out of the way and tucked them behind her ears.

As he did, sunlight swept over her paler-than-usual complexion, and Aang noticed that it was unusually pink and puffy above her delicate, doll-like cheekbones. He gasped slightly, about to say something.

But she suddenly reached up and pushed his hand away, less forcefully than she normally would, before springing to her feet and declaring bluntly, "I'm fine, Twinkles, don't worry."

And with that she turned and started to walk away from his still sitting form before shortly earthbending herself up and away to expedite the process. He sat and looked after her for a few minutes until she disappeared from sight. Being soaked himself, he shook out his newly-grown shock of dark hair and wiped the river water from his face, thinking about how Toph had been wiping more than that from hers.

**Later that day...**

"Hey, Toph!" said Katara brightly, glancing behind her briefly as the earthbender approached before going back to the large steaming pot in front of her.

"Hey, Sugarqueen." Katara grimaced at Toph's less-than-enthusiastic tone. She turned around and saw that the earthbender was sitting on a tree stump a few feet away, looking glum.

"What's with you? ...And why are you soaking wet? You hate water... every time we have to go into a river or anything else to clean you up, you fight me every step of the way," Katara chuckled, her cobalt eyes lighting up, "It's easier to get Sokka to eat vegetables than it is to give you a bath."

"It's nothing, Twinkletoes splashed me." she lied.

"Oh, okay."

Toph hadn't meant to sound to distant. She was just so confused... I mean, what was _that?_ Down on the shore... him touching her face like that, tucking her bangs behind her ears... Just then she remembered the bangs thing and instinctively shook her head out, dislodging them from behind her ears so that they hung over her face like they usually did. She wasn't sure what had happened down on the shore, or what it meant, but she knew one thing, and that was that she and Aang had _definitely_ had some kind of moment down there that hinted, "more than friends".

Maybe she was just being silly... she probably was just imagining things because she had been so scared and worked up. Yeah... _'I mean, there's no way that he could ever feel anything for me... I'm...well, _me_... and he likes stupid, floozy Sugarqueen.'_ she thought semi-dejectedly. Even if his heart had begun to speed up around her since their kiss, there was really no way that she could accurately read into it. He was, after all, a teenage boy, and his heart was most-likely bound to speed up around anything that had boobs. Just then, she heard the unmistakably-Aang _"whoosh"_ of air and a pair of feather-light feet touch down a short distance from her.

"Hi, Katara." came his voice directed at the slender waterbender, who was now stirring some kind of soup around in the large pot in front of her with her bending.

"Hey, Aang, how was swimming? Did you practice your bending at all?"

"Yeah, a little.. and it was good." he paused, and Toph felt his gaze float to the side of her head. "Hey, Toph."

"Hey."

"Hellooooo, Team Avatar!" Sokka sang as he marched into their campsite clearing unexpectedly with firewood in hand. "Katara, can I dump some of this on your fire? That flame is starting to look prettttty weak."

Katara glared at him, "My flame is just _fine_, thank you, but if it would make you feel better, then sure." He did so, and then proceeded to pull his currently-down hair into his signature wolf tail. Just then, he sent a funny look in Toph's direction.

"Toph, why are you wet?"

"None of your business, Snoozles." she answered automatically, and frustration built up within her, "Why does everyone _care_, anyways? Who gives a flying _flip_ if I'm wet?"

"Geez, calm down, it was just a curious question." he answered. Toph stood up from her stump.

"I'm going for a walk." she announced. She felt Aang jump to his feet and open his mouth to say something and consequently added, "Alone." He said nothing as she walked away.

"Um, are you sure, Toph? I just about have dinner ready.." Katara called after her. The earthbender didn't reply and continued to walk, imagining her three friends looking at each other behind her back as she did so.

**...**

Toph sat on the rock she had occupied earlier before her water slide adventure with Aang. Judging by the drop in temperature, the sun had set and it was now dark. She just wanted to be alone and wondered why she was so moody all of the sudden... She also felt mildly guilty about blowing up at Sokka, but took comfort in the fact that he was probably over it three seconds after she had said it. Just as her thoughts were starting to stray back to Aang and their kiss, like they usually did when she was alone for too long, she heard his featherlight feet land next to her rock.

"Hey, Toph."

"Hey, Twinkles"

"...Can I sit with you?"

Toph scooted over on her rock to make room for him and felt him land effortlessly next to her. His hand fell on top of hers, warm and pulsing. At first it surprised her, but she decided it was comforting and didn't say anything. They just sat there for minutes in the silence, listening to the breeze on the water. Aang especially liked how Toph's hair blew with it and allowed the moonlight to light up her porcelain features so that they glowed for only moments at a time.

"Will you stop?"

"...Huh-What?"

"Staring at me like that. I can feel it, you know."

Aang smiled to himself and looked back out to the water. She knew everything. It was always interesting being around Toph because there was never a dull moment, even as they sat there in the silence- he never was bored in the slightest. While Aang sat there contentedly, just happy to be next to Toph, her mind was racing, questioning.

'_Why is he _here_? Why is his hand on top of mine? I'm fine with it... but what _is_ it? What does this _mean_? What did what happened _today_ mean? What did the kiss mean? ...Why am I asking all these stupid questions to myself?' _Toph took a deep breath and sighed it out silently. She just needed to stop. All this thinking was making her dizzy.

"You okay?" Aang asked.

"I'm fine."

"Is it about why you were crying earlier?"

Drat-He'd noticed. "..No."

"What's bothering you?"

"Nothing."

He cracked a smile, "You're lying."

Toph turned to him, "Who are _you_ to say that? _I'm_ the only reliable human lie-detector in existence, thank you very much." She turned back to the water and he chucked. "What are you laughing at?"

"You." he smiled even wider. Aang couldn't resist, she had the most adorable, screwed up, narrow-eyed _'I'm-On-To-You'_ look he had ever seen.

"Actually, I do have a question..." she said.

"Shoot."

"Why are you here?" she turned her head in his direction again. He tilted his head to one side and contemplated her question for a few seconds.

"Because you're my friend and I wanted to see if you were okay." Aang knew that wasn't the answer she was looking for. He knew that she had been confused lately, probably almost as confused as he had been. He wasn't blind (pun intended) to the feelings that were building up inside him for Toph, and he knew he had been instigating things lately that had probably been driving her crazy, but he didn't really know what else to do... One thing he knew for sure was that it was definitely _not_ something he wanted to confront right now, especially since he'd had his heart set on Katara for so long. But he also decided that he really liked the way he felt around Toph. With Katara, there was a certain degree of suffocation and predictability that came with the territory, but with Toph, there was definitely something different... something unexpected and free and surprising...in a good way.

"Oh." she answered, not as disappointed as he'd thought she would sound, "Well, if you're not going to answer _that_ question honestly, then will you please promise to answer this next one truthfully?"

Aang mentally smacked himself. _'Duh...human-lie detector!'_ He sighed and decided to be honest, "I'm sorry, Toph, this is really just something I don't want to deal with right now."

"How convenient for you, Twinkletoes, avoiding things as usual." She jumped off the rock and turned her back to him.

"You're one to be talking! I know perfectly well that there's more than 'nothing' going on in your head," he shot back.

"Well, I'm not the one who has explaining to do!"

"_Explaining?_"

"_Yes_, explaining!"

"You want me to explain myself? About _what_?"

"You know what!"

They were face-to-face now, inches apart, chests heaving, glaring at each other. Suddenly Aang closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let his forehead fall to the earthbender's shoulder. "Toph, I can't do this..."

"You-"

"Toph, _no_. You _don't_ understand." he backed away from her and glared again, fists clenched, "I'm in love with _Katara_, Toph!"

After a few seconds of shock and the feeling of her whole existence being ripped in half, she replied, "I know _that_. You think I don't _know_ that?" she shouted hysterically, "I can feel your heartbeat go through the roof every single time she says your name! But that doesn't ex-"

"I don't feel _anything_ for you, Toph." he interrupted, "You are my best friend, Sifu Toph, and the greatest earthbending master I could've ever asked for, but nothing more." He turned away, trying desperately to make sense of the words that seemed to spill out of his mouth on their own accord.

"Well, that's a relief," she lied with ease, despite the numb feeling that was currently spreading from her head to her toes, "because I don't feel like that for you either."

"Well...Good." he said, unsure of what had just happened.

"Good." she replied calmly and bluntly.

After a few minutes of silence, Aang cleared his throat. "You want to, uh.. go back to camp and get some dinner? You must be hungry."

"Yeah, let's," she answered quietly, "...right...hungry.."

The two walked back to camp together as if nothing had happened.

Thanks for reading! I'll try my best to get the next chapter up soon! :)


	6. Important Please Read

Hey guys, so I know you are all probably going to hate me forever for this, but I really don't have the time to continue this story… at least not right now. I hope you'll understand. I do have a life, an actual, really and unnaturally busy life for someone who is 18. Just to give you a vague idea: I have 4 hours of homework every night, and I am the lead in the school musical right now and am attending rehearsals 13 hours a week. On top of that, I am in a dance showcase that also requires a lot of commitment, and I am currently smack-dab in the middle of the college process- I have a gazillion auditions coming up that will decide whether or not I get IN to college… And I also think I am in love for the first time…

I'm sorry. I should've realized that if I didn't have the time to commit to this, then I shouldn't have started it and promised a multi-chapter fic with "weekly updates". But the disappointment and anticipation will end after this: **I am marking this story as "complete" for now because I just can't do it**. There will be no more updates for probably a long time (hah, nothing new I suppose)… at least not until it's summer and I have graduated. You should know that I _will_ continue this story eventually- I am still completely and totally emotionally invested in TAANG and Avatar: The Last Airbender. I think it is a brilliant series, and nothing will ever change my opinion of it.

Also, I find that my writing is best when I go through a reading phase.. You know, like when you just have all this time on your hands so you just read book after book after book? Well, as you probably would've guessed, I don't have the time to read for pleasure at all right now, and therefore my writing has been "off". I realize that it's never been superb, but it hasn't really been up to my usual standards either lately (remember how I said with the last chapter that I had to re-write it several times? …Yeah you should've seen the first draft..). I am sorry that I have been disappointing lately and, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for your constructive criticism! :) When I finally _do_ get up to updating this story again, I hope that it will be a chapter that fulfills all of the expectations that you might have for both my writing and my story.

Ta-ta for now.

Love, Mal


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